North Korea arms talks to get under way

BEIJING, July 9 (UPI) -- North Korea is expected to try to coax out new incentives for dismantling its nuclear program in the next round of talks in Beijing, set to begin Thursday.

After nine months delay, negotiators from China, the United States, North and South Korea, Japan and Russia will gather for three days to consider Pyongyang's recently submitted list of nuclear materials and the next steps in eliminating the program, the Voice of America reported Wednesday.

Chief U.S. negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, is cautiously optimistic.

"Verification is the most important thing. We want to speed up the rate of disablement ," he said. "We hope we can pick up the pace to do that."

North Korea has said it will not take further steps until it has received more promised international aid and other incentives.